ローリンボーイ  Rolling Boy
by edis0n
Summary: "You must be tired, right?" - Set in High School AU. They used to be friends but drifted apart. Day after day, Gakupo shows up at school with more injuries. Kaito saves him, only for him to disappear for weeks. Will they be drawn back to each other again?


**rolling girl, hatsune miku**  
><em>romancedrama (?)  
>vocaloid (kaitogakupo)_

He showed up at school with bruises he covered up by wearing long sleeve shirts and loose sweaters. Though he held his head tall, Kaito knew that Gakupo was lonely. A strong face, a strong suit. The two used to talk more but even after they'd drifted from each other, Kaito felt he could still tell when something was wrong with the other. Gakupo wore his heart on his sleeve. Or perhaps Kaito was just good at reading people.

The purple haired boy would disappear from time to time. and every time, he'd return to school sporting an extra patch of gauze taped to his pale cheek, another bruise on his arms, another cut or scrape on his legs. Kaito would watch as he handed in an excuse written and signed on worn paper to their teachers, watch as he drifted through the hallways, that same troubled look in his eyes.

He finds out what exactly is wrong when he's on the way home from the market with more ice cream, and he passes a group of rowdy boys dragging Gakupo down the sidewalk into an alley. Kaito is angry that no one is doing anything. _Call the police, you idiots, what are you doing just standing there?_

Without a second thought, he drops the paper bags to the ground and runs after them. Kaito was never a tall or burly person, but when armed with a rickety wooden coat rack, he's suddenly much more formidable. With a few swings, he gets them all running, and he goes over to Gakupo. Sea-green eyes are just staring at the dirty asphalt, and he looks terrible, a cut bleeding on his cheek, his clothes soiled and in disarray. His violet hair is all loose, the hair ribbon usually binding it up having been tossed somewhere.

"You okay?"

Gakupo nods, mutters a thanks. He fixes his clothes as best as he can, throws his hair over his shoulders as he pushes back onto his feet. Kaito wants to say something as the purple haired boy begins to walk off quietly, but instead he shuts his mouth. _It's none of my business_.

But he worries after Gakupo doesn't show up the next day, and then when the next day becomes next week, he wonders if perhaps he should have said something that time. Another week passes. Kaito is irritated and troubled. He asks himself why he bothers worrying. But after several more days, he doesn't care if he's worried. He just wants to know if Gakupo is alright.

The next time he sees Gakupo, another week has passed. It's the same scenario as last time, only this time Kaito hadn't been getting ice cream, he'd been picking up his favourite scarf from the cleaner's. It's a similar group of guys and Kaito wonders what he'll have to find this time. He settles for a discarded lawn chair somewhere in a pile of cardboard boxes, and drags it after him.

It ends nearly the same way, only this time Kaito doesn't let him go, grabbing hold of one slender arm. "Hey, where have you been? I- Meiko-sensei has been worried about you." It's a half-lie, their homeroom teacher has certainly asked about Gakupo's whereabouts but Kaito's been more worried than anyone else about his classmate. "You're bleeding!" he ignores the boy's physical protests as he takes his clean scarf and wraps it around injured arm.

The purple-haired boy is silent the whole time; he won't look at him either. "Gakupo. What's going on? This is the second time I've found you like this, you're always disappearing and showing back up in shambles."

Gakupo is tight-lipped, and Kaito just tugs on his arm. "Hey. Say something at least. What's wrong?"

"It's no problem... thank you, again." with that, Gakupo jerks away. His sea-green eyes meet Kaito's blue ones for just a moment, but it tells him everything. He's in pain, he's afraid, but most of all, he's so alone. And he wants it that way, he doesn't want to be weak, he can take care of himself, he'll get lucky one day, the die will roll in his favour and then everything will be okay. He doesn't want to trouble anyone with his problems.

It takes him a little while, as he slaps himself mentally, stupid Kaito, of course. Gakupo had always been like that, even before they drifted apart, even before Gakupo's grades had begun to slip simply because he'd disappear for days and weeks at a time, even before Kaito had taken his spot as number one student. He'd always kept his problems to himself, even as children Kaito would have to bait him and pester him to get the answers he wanted.

By the time he realises this, Gakupo has already run off, his footsteps are fading fast but he can catch up, he just has to run faster. Kaito sees telltale violet hair in front of him, loose and flying everywhere and it's beautiful, he's always thought that, but now is no time for that. He pushes his legs to work harder, run faster because he has to catch up to Gakupo.

Limbs obey him and suddenly he's running with the wind on his heels. He can almost touch that violet hair, but that's not enough. With one last jump, he opens his arms and catches Gakupo in them and they both fall onto the sidewalk. The asphalt hurts on his knees but Kaito doesn't care as he holds Gakupo close. The other protests but it only makes him hug him tighter, one hand tangling in purple locks and the other clutching him around a slender waist.

_"You must be tired, right?"_

That question alone was enough to surprise Gakupo into submission. "I'm sorry I left you all alone, Gaku-chan." That old nickname, to hear it now when he needed it so much...

Kaito's answer came in tears, as the violet-haired boy finally let it all out. He didn't have to do it alone, he didn't have to fight by himself.

Not anymore, not ever again. Kaito would never let go of him again.

* * *

><p>this story was written as the first installation to a series in which i write a fic inspired by a song. these stories aren't limited to just the vocaloid fandom, but this one happened to be. as the title above states, this story was inspired by the song <strong>rolling girl<strong> by hatsune miku. i wrote this in about one hour with the song playing on repeat in the background. this work is unbeta-ed so if there are any spelling/grammar errors i've missed, don't be afraid to tell me so!


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